Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Director Jim Douglas announced today that there will be no mountain lion hunting season in 2015.

Claiming that the Commission's decision was not a result of the controversy generated by Nebraska's inaugural lion hunt, Director Douglas indicated that they needed to review the situation and that there might be a mountain lion hunt in 2016.

At the beginning of the 2014 lion hunting season,the Commission estimated that Nebraska might have 22 resident mountain lions.

Last year, there were 16 documented mountain lion deaths in Nebraska, including five killed legally by hunters; four killed legally because people felt threatened; three incidentally trapped; two killed by vehicles; and two taken illegally.

Ten of the mountain lions killed were females, which Director Douglas cited as a factor in the Commission's decision to not have a hunting season this year.

In addition, the Commission budgeted $60,000 for radio collars, trail cameras and three years of scat surveys to "better understand and manage the mountain lion population."

There is no indication that State Senator Ernie Chambers plans to stop his legislative efforts (LB127) to remove the Commission's authority to hold mountain lion hunts.